The beauty of sport is that there is always a possibility of a singular moment occurring that will truly take your breath away. For tennis, a memorable match doesn’t necessarily have to have the longest tie break or rally in tennis history but rather its one singular shocking or brilliant moment that gets remembered. There is no specific definition for what makes a moment breathtaking, but it is something that is undeniable in it’s importance when it happens. Here are some of the most breathtaking matches:
Monica Seles stabbing in Hamburg
April 30th in 1993 was possibly the most shocking day in tennis history. Monica Seles, No 1 in the world at that time, was competing in a match against Magdalena Maleeva in the Citizen Cup in Hamburg, Germany. She won the first set and lead 4-3 in the second when, during the changeover, the unthinkable happened. While she was sitting on the bench taking her last sip of water, a German spectator came up behind her and stabbed her in the back with a boning knife. She was lucky under the circumstances since the knife barely missed the spinal cord and the surrounding organs. The first question that was asked after finding out Seles would be okay was why did this horrible incident happen? The man who stabbed Seles it turns out was mentally disturbed with an obsessed fan of Steffi Graf. He wanted Graff to claim the No 1 spot in the world over Monica Seles who she had always had trouble against. Needless to say tennis, and the entire sports world, stopped at that moment.
Federer beaten by Nadal in their first Grand Slam clash
As we all know, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have played a number of very close matches against each other. Besides the epic Wimbledon final in 2008 that everyone talks about, in which Nadal won, their epic four setter in the 2005 French Open semi final is the match that propelled this rivalry. It was Rafa’s first French Open he competed in as well as the first time he faced Federer in a match on clay. It reached its climax when Rafa won the match in four sets 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-3, moving on to win his first French Open Championships at the age of 19. This was a win that thoroughly shocked the tennis world. This French Open semi final was the actual start of their rivalry that still rages on today.
Great Britain sings for their Wimbledon Champion, Virginia Wade
British tennis player Virginia Wade, ranked as high as No 2 in the world, made it to the Wimbledon final in her own home country in 
1977. Making it to the final she surprisingly defeated Chris Evert, America’s tennis star, in the semi final and was to face Betty Stöve from the Netherlands. Have won the Australian and US Open previously, she was committed to winning her third Grand Slam title in her home country. Even though she lost the first set 4-6, she came back and won the next two sets 6-3 6-1 to the delight of Great Britain and Queen Elizabeth II herself. It was breathtaking, especially for the British public, that Virginia won her first Wimbledon title on a very special day and even more notable year. 1977 was the 100th anniversary of the first Wimbledon Championships and also the 25th anniversary of reign Queen Elizabeth II. Of course, Queen Elizabeth insisted to handover the Wimbledon trophy to Virginia in person and the whole crowd started singing for the new Grand Slam Champion “For She’s A Jolly Good Fellow” to properly express their joy and pride.
Goran Ivanisevic does the unexpected
Ranked 125th in the world and recovering from a recent shoulder injury, Goran Ivanisevic secured a wild card spot to the Wimbledon Championships in 2001. Against all odds he made it to the finals where he had to face the Australian Patrick Rafter. You can imagine the crowd was amped for this Wimbledon final cheering wildly for both the Australian, Pat Rafter, and the Croatian, Goran Ivanisevic. The match lasted over three hours in a remarkable close fought match. In the end, Goran prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7 earning the 2001 Wimbledon title.
American Horvath upsets Martina Navratilova
Kathleen Horvath, former American professional tennis player, was ranked No. 45 in the world in 1983. She faced the Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova in the fourth round of the French Open. Martina was for sure the favorite in that match since she won 254 matches in the seasons 1982 to 1984 and had lost just 6 matches on the other side. Kathleen also was unseeded in this French Open and nobody really believed that she was about to break Martina’s latest run, namely winning all her 36 matches she played in 1983 so far. But again the unexpected happened as she defeated Martina 6-4 0-6 6-3 becoming the only person to beat Navratilova that season.
